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This research guide from The National Archives was written by Dr David Clarke in March 2008 and revised in August 2008. It traces British government interest in UFOs from the phantom airships of 1909 through the 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, Air Ministry and MoD investigations, and the 1979 House of Lords debate. It notes that official bodies found most sightings had ordinary explanations. It also lists key National Archives file references, including papers on the Rendlesham Forest incident.
8 4) UFO sighting reports There are several files documenting the UK Government‟s policy on UFOs, including references to how and by whom it was drawn up and how it evolved. These papers illustrate how a number of different branches and divisions with MoD were involved at different times handling policy and investigations. Policy files created by the former Air Ministry DDI (Tech) and their successor, the Defence Intelligence Staff, can be found at references DEFE 31/118 (1953-1963) and DEFE 31/119 (1967). Air Staff policy can be followed at AIR 20/11612 (1967-68), AIR 2/18117 (1967) and AIR 2/19086 (1970-75) Examples of Parliamentary correspondence can be found at DEFE 24/1535. This file also contains papers relating to the British Government‟s response to the Prime Minister of Grenada‟s attempts to table a debate on UFOs at the United Nations in 1977-78. Other contents include references to the French Government‟s UFO policy and the study group established by the French Space Agency, based at Toulouse. A series of files contains responses to Parliamentary Enquiries on UFOs, at DEFE 13/1183, DEFE 13/1187, DEFE 13/1188 and DEFE 71/97-100 . There is a substantial collection of papers relating to the UFO debate held in the House of Lords in January 1979. A number of MoD branches, along with the Foreign Office and the Department of Science & Energy, contributed to the Government's response in the Lords. DEFE 19/253 contains RAF Chief Scientist papers, DEFE 31/172 contains DIS papers, while AIR 20/12966 is the Head of S4 (Air)‟s file on the debate and its aftermath. UFO report files contain a mixture of letters from members of the public and reports from official sources such as the police, coastguard and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Many reports take the form of military signals received by MoD via a variety of RAF and RN stations. The most frequent method of reporting a UFO sighting was via a standard proforma, originally based on a USAF questionnaire. An early draft of this report format can be found at DEFE 31/118. A version of this questionnaire is still used today by the Ministry of Defence. The proforma contains 16 questions, a-q: (a) Date, time and duration of sighting (b) Description of object (c) Exact position observer (d) How observed (e) Direction in which object was first seen (f) Angle of sight (g) Distance (h) Movements (j) Meteorological conditions during observations (k) Nearby objects (l) To whom reported (police, military organisations, the press etc) (m) Name and address of informant (n) Any background on the informant that may be volunteered (o) Other witnesses (p) Date and time of receipt of report (q) Is a reply requested? (Note item q was deleted from 1973). From 1966-67 UFO reports and correspondence between members of the public and MoD were preserved in two separate sequences of files. Five separate file series held at
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